Anger
by Axis II
Summary: Shaw is good at anger.


_I don't own Person of Interest or any of its characters. If I did, something like this would've already happened on the show. This story uses as it's base a quote from 3x05 Razgovor where Shaw describes her overall emotional baseline._

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><p>Shaw lay in the tangled bed sheets, enjoying the cool air blowing over her fevered skin as her mind came down from the only high (other than killing) that could silence all thought. The body next to her stirred, scooting closer and draping a languid arm over her stomach. It wasn't the first time they'd ended up in bed together. It certainly wouldn't be the last. But this time felt different. Shaw felt like something was expected. She hated expectations. She hated assumptions. She hated conversations about feelings because they inevitably led to the same dead end.<p>

Convinced every moment lingering in bed would only lead to that negative result she began to get up. The arm over her waist squeezed tight, pulling her back to the mattress with unexpected strength._ I always forget how strong she can be._

"Going somewhere already?" Root asked sleepily, nuzzling close to Sameen's ear and sending chills down her spine.

"I gotta get back." Shaw protested but didn't fight further. She wouldn't be free until Root bloody well decided she could be free. In more ways than one.

"Are you running away from me, Sameen?" Root purred, fingers tracing an intricate design over her hip bone.

"Pretty sure we covered this, Root. You don't scare me. Even with a travel iron." Shaw looked over at her with a cocky smirk.

"Mmmm. That's right. That brought out your little masochistic streak, didn't it? So tell me, Sameen: if I don't scare you, what do I do?" Root rose up onto one elbow so she could look down at her pinned lover. Shaw gazed up at her, momentarily wondering how it was possible this other worldly creature was in bed with her. Root was all at once alien and ethereal and beyond Shaw's ability to comprehend. As were her thoughts about the woman.

"I don't do feelings, Root. You know that." Shaw frowned, feeling the edges of emptiness in her own head. There should've been something there but there wasn't. It was either the gaping maw of void or a shadow overwhelming too much thought.

"Not all of them, anyway. There are some you manage now and then." Root corrected, dropping a teasing kiss to Shaw's shoulder.

"I do anger. Anger I'm good at." Shaw admitted, arching her neck to one side, allowing Root's lips easier access to the sensitive skin.

"Then tell me," Root's lips trailed up her throat to whisper in her ear, "What makes you angry?"

"Everything. Assholes that don't know how to drive. Child exploitation. Small dogs in ugly sweaters." Shaw listed easily but found the words harder to pronounce through her shaking breath as Root's talented mouth and tongue carved a path from her ear to her lips.

"What else?" the words brushed over Shaw's lips and were more felt than heard.

"I get angry when I don't know what's going on. If I don't know how to fix things. When I can't be sure everything is going to be okay." Sameen felt frustration gnawing at the edge of her thoughts but nothing could overwhelm the sensation of Root's fingers trailing along the curve of her breast. Shivers followed that ever teasing touch.

"Mmmm. When do you feel like that?" Root asked, unconsciously going back to her early persona as a psychotherapist. She never would've gotten away with this treatment back then. She smiled and resumed tasting along Shaw's throat.

"When the machine takes you away from me for days without warning." Shaw growled, hiding the purr of pleasure when Root's talented lips found the tender flesh of her pulse point. Her nails dug into the hacker's shoulder, leaving a perfect pattern of crescents.

"When you take off on some damn mission that's going to get you killed." Sameen elaborated, hands gripping her lover tight and pulling her closer into an all-encompassing embrace.

"When John and Finch act like there is nothing they can do." Using her handholds and leverage, Shaw flipped Root over onto her back and gazed down at her in satisfied victory. Unconsciously she traced a finger over the other woman's lips, dragging them apart ever so slightly and shuddering when she felt a kiss on her fingertip.

"Whenever anyone tries to hurt you." Shaw confessed, feeling like the bottomless hole in her heart might finally have found its end.

"Do you get angry about me a lot, Sameen?" Root whispered the question, eyes wide in wonder as she held her breath. Shaw stared down at her, repeating the question in her own mind. This was not the way this conversation ever went. It was always 'do you love me,' 'do you want me,' 'will you stay with me,' and similar demands she couldn't begin to compute. But anger, she could do anger. Root was speaking Shaw's language.

"More than anything else," Shaw admitted with a groan of surrender, "When you're not here. When I can't touch you. When you leave before I wake up in the morning. You make me so damn angry, Root."

The tender declaration felt like it had ripped something fundamental out of Shaw's heart. Something she couldn't identify but by the glittering shine of Root's eyes she guessed her lover knew exactly what it was. Root rose against Shaw's pinning hold, just enough to capture her lips in a tender kiss of passionate reward. The hungry embrace enveloped them both and Shaw lost her dominance, both of them rolling across the bed and wrestling for control even as they surrendered to desire. Root emerged on top, pinning Shaw to the sheets. They both knew the former government agent could break the restraint if she wanted to. They both knew she didn't want to.

"I love making you angry, Sameen." Root whispered, lips so close that Shaw could taste the words. She shuddered as they slid over her skin, raising goose bumps in the wake of her breath. _I love._ It was the first time Shaw had heard the words and they didn't feel dangerous. Only Root could make that phrase sound safe and full of promise. Full of everything Shaw could barely admit she wanted.

"Do you know what makes me truly furious?" the smaller woman finally asked, not even testing the grips on her wrists or the weight on her hips. She put all the challenge into her eyes, gazing up into the chocolate depths of Root's soul.

"What?" the taller woman wondered, unable to tear her eyes away from the revelations unfolding before her. She was so distracted by the confusion of emotions churning in Shaw's eyes that she didn't feel muscles tense beneath her. All at once the petite mercenary flipped her onto her back, pinning the length of her body with power and heat; hovering just a breath away from her lips.

"Being in love with you." Shaw smirked, pausing just long enough to watch the surprise and confusion of Root's eyes fade into astonished relief before capturing her lips.

_I'm not good at emotion. _Shaw repeated in her head, losing herself in the feel of soft lips and hands roaming her body. _Anger I'm good at._ The sensation of fingers tracing down her skin echoed the chills of teeth nipping her tongue. _Nothing makes me angrier than you._

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><p><em>please provide feedback and commentary.<em>


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